Indian Writers in the States
 JHUMPA LAHIRI
Photo Credit: Marion Ettlinger
Interpreter of
Maladies
 Born in London 1967 to Bengali
parents
 Raised in New York
 PhD in Renaissance Studies at
Boston University
 Based in Brooklyn, NYC
 Winner of the 2000 Booker
Prize with Interpreter of
Maladies
The Namesake Unaccustomed
Earth
The Lowland
Indian Film Directors in the States
 MIRA NAIR
The Namesake
Vanity Fair
 Born in Rourkela, Orissa, India
1957
 Raised in India and United
States
 M.A. in Sociology at Harvard
University
 Based in New York
 Founder of her Film Production
Company in NYC: MIRABAI
FILMS
 Now shooting Shantaram
based on Australian novel by
Gregory David Roberts
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
GENRE: “Minority literature in a
multicultural world”* – “Global novel”
 The “double” (ref. Gogol’s “The Overcoat”).
 Bildungsroman: presents the growth of the protagonist (Gogol) from birth to
adulthood (sentimental education).
 Familienroman (The Gangulis): not a real family saga, albeit four generations
are represented: (great)-grandparents (India), parents (India-USA), children
(USA).
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
SETTING, TIME, NARRATOR
 India: Calcutta (Bengal) / USA: Boston, Cambridge, New York (New
England).
 Third space**: Russia (Ashoke), Paris (Moushumi).
 Time span: from 1968-2000, chronological structure, linear narration, few
flashbacks (Historical references: death of Senator Robert Kennedy and of
Martin Luther King Jr. 1968, p. 31).
 Third person omniscient narrator / First person interior monologues.
 No consolatory happy ending, rather open ending.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
METANARRATIVITY
 Intertextuality: novel as loose re-writing of Nikolaj Gogol’s “The
Overcoat” and biography.
 Academics:
- paternal grandfather = university professor of European Literature,
- father (Ashoke) = professor of Engineering,
- son (Gogol) = MA in Architecture,
- Gogol’s wife (Moushumi) = PhD in French Literature.
 Background: university and public libraries (Ashima, the mother,
works in a public library).
 The novel as book: embeds other books and dramatizes reading as
a formative experience (circularity: opening with father reading
Gogol vs ending with son reading Gogol).
 Critical views on the concept of “marginality” attached to Indian
novels written in English and on ABCDs (American Born Confused
Deshi) p. 118.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
CHARACTERS

-
Major characters:
Ashima-Ashoke Ganguli (parents) move from India to the US,
Gogol and Sonia Ganguli (children) born in the US,
Moushumi (Gogol’s Bengali-American wife) moves from New York to Paris.

-
Minor characters:
Paternal grandfather,
Maternal grandmother,
Maxine (Gogol’s American first fiancé).
 Groups: Bengali friends vs American friends.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
PLOT: part I
 Ashima is the daughter of a well-off, Brahmin family. Her marriage is not
arranged in the traditional way, she is allowed instead to choose among
pretenders.
 She chooses Ashoke after trying on his American-made shoes.
 Ashoke survived a train accident, while reading the Russian author Gogol.
 They move to Boston, where Ashoke is finishing his PhD.
 Two children are born there: Gogol and Sonia.
 Gogol’s name is only provisional, yet it becomes his good name.*
 Ashoke gets a position at University, and they move to a bigger house in the
suburbs.
 Ashoke and children have assimilated while Ashima has not.
*good name: Foreigners in India are often confused when asked, "What is your good name?" The
questioner is just asking for the person's name. It is a literal translation of the Hindi usage "Aap ka
shubh nam?" ("shubh" means "auspicious").
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
PLOT: part II
 Ashoke accepts a position far from home, where he lives alone.
 This fact indirectly causes a general crisis to the various members of
the family.
 Ashima, left alone, develops a stronger nostalgia for India.
 Gogol changes name to Nikhil, and in spite of that, he does no
longer know who he is.
 Ashima becomes a widow.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
THEMES
 Migration and diaspora: Indian migrants to the US***
- India vs USA, (assimilation vs alienation) [NRI= non residential Indian; PIO= person of
Indian origin].
 Motherland vs American Dream / Promised Land: Nostalgia**** (losses and
gains).
 The double: double nationalities; double names and identities.
 Names:
- Pet name = Gogol (private, familiar) vs good name = Nikhil (public, official) p.26
- Complementarity (Ashima-Ashoke): they never call each other by name p.2
- double Gogol-Ganguli vs Akakij-Akakievic (“The Overcoat”)
- name change (Nikhil vs Gogol)
- name refusal (Moushumi refuses to adopt her husband’s surname) p.227.
 Otherness: Ashima as emblem of foreigness, outsideness, displacement.
 Crossculturalism: constant comparison between Indian and American way of
life.
Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake
MOTIVES AND SYMBOLS
 British colonial legacy.
 Rites of passage:
- birth, graduation, marriage (inclusion/union);
- migration, changing names, divorce, death / widowhood
(exclusion/separation).
 Geographies / Topographies:
- Est / West (India / USA)
- Centre/periphery: houses, suburbs, cities.
 Professional success vs sentimental failure.
 Existential loneliness, alienation.
 Ethnic cuisine.